spacetoday.net: NASA upgrades Ares 5

Posted: Fri, Jun 27, 2008, 6:29 AM ET (1029 GMT)
Ares 5 illustration (NASA)

NASA has added more power to its proposed Ares 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle that will be used to send missions to the Moon as part of the Vision for Space Exploration, the agency announced this week. The Ares 5 previously used five RS-68 liquid-propellant engines on its core stage, as well as a pair of five-segment solid rocket boosters. The new Ares 5 version, announced by NASA this week as part of a new review of the agency's lunar exploration capabilities, will feature six RS-68 engines and two five-and-a-half-segment SRBs. The new Ares 5 version will be able to send 71 metric tons to the Moon. Work in earnest on the Ares 5 is not slated to start until after the space shuttle is retired in 2010, and will depend on any changes in NASA's exploration plans a new administration may make.